The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

301 Pages
Trade Paperback
2002
Non-Fiction

I have already read two books by Gladwell, Blink and Outliers. I really enjoyed both of them. My wife has owned The Tipping Point for some time so I thought it was time to read that as well. The book focuses on epidemics, not only of disease, but of fashion, crime and more.

The Tipping Point starts with the idea of an epidemic that we are familiar with. Specifically, it studies AIDS, Syphilis and Gonorrhea. It demonstrates how these diseases at certain points were well contained or in the case of AIDS mostly non-lethal. What really drew my attention was the details of AIDS. Evidence shows that an early epidemic happened in a European hospital. This was caused by the common use of reusing syringes for inoculation. Surprisingly, from a modern view, it was determined that many people infected beat it and went on to live long lives. It wasn't until the 1980's that it mutated enough that it became the killer we now know it to be. It also studied the spread and determined that two men were instrumental in the spread of AIDS. Both of them had 100's of partners and a infected a significant percentage of those people. This in turn encouraged HIV to tip into the epidemic that we have come to know.

The book also delves into entertainment. It looks at Sesame Street and the details that made it what it has become. It follows the crime problems of New York in the 80's and how it was the small things that made the difference, not the big things. It also followed the rise of certain shoes and how they all started with a very small group of people that eventually influenced people across the country and the world.

I found it it entertaining and easy to read. The most appealing was the study of Sesame Street and the influence it had on later children's entertainment. That said, I found that the first 150 pages focused a lot on the same few situations and I found myself hoping for a bit more variety in the examples. His major point was there are three types of people, Mavens, Connectors and Salesmen. These people are what is needed to cause an epidemic.

4 Intellectual/Emotional - The book totally focuses on intellectual pursuits. This is the goal of the book and it succeeds.

3 Style/Readability -  Gladwell has a way of taking complex subjects and distilling them into easily digestible content. I never struggled with understanding his point, but I did get a bit bored with overuse of examples rather than using new ones.

3 - Long Term Impact - It is probably safe to say that The Tipping Point started a epidemic of sorts in the book world. Gladwell and many authors after him have wrote books that follow a similar form. The author takes a series of studies and ties them together with a theme. Then he or she presents them in a interesting, but not to complex, way.

10 out of 13. I did enjoy the book, but it was apparent that this was his first book. I felt his later works were better overall. That isn't to say it isn't worthwhile. In fact I think if you thought you would like this type of work I would suggest starting here. It only gets better as he progresses. Another book of the genre worth checking out is Freakenomics.

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